Darkest Before the Dawn The Story of the Third Interstellar War
by dracon117
Summary: this is the story of the Earth/Minbari war but with the UNSC post Human/Covenant war instead of the Earth Alliance, introducing humanity to the B5 universe.
1. Information page

Paste your document here...

here is a basic info page.

i dont own anything, this is just for fun to see if i can write a decent fic. If you have questions pm me. I have pics depicting the ships in the story, you can find them at

wolfsshipyard forum fanfiction under my story title.

Alyt-captain

Sha'alyt commodore

Sus'alyt-admiral

Dul'vann

Enfili

Ingata

Trigati

Drala Fi

Dogato

Satai's

Morann male warrior

Coplann male warrior

Kadronn female warrior

Tolann male worker

Dakirann female worker

Malinn female worker

Delenn female religious

Mirak male religious

Pilann male religious

6340'= 1932m Cocidius

18681.6'= 5694.1m Infinity Class Super-Carrier

1607'=490m Paris Class Heavy Frigate

1520'=463m Hermes Class Light Frigate

3840'=1170.4m halcyon flight II Class Light Cruiser

3904'=1190m Marathon Class Heavy Cruiser

3215'=980m Athena Class Advanced Heavy Destroyer

2756'=840m Kearsarge Class Light Destroyer

5446' =1660m minbari shrilan/shargoti

2851'=869 m Tinashi Class War-Frigate


	2. Chapter 1

_**Darkest Before the Dawn**_

**The Story of the Third Interstellar War**

Prolog

10 years, it has been ten years since the end of the Great War. 10 years since humanity faced extinction. Humanity said never again will it face the long night. They rebuilt, re-colonized, they spread far and wide.

At the edge of UNSC-controlled space, far from the Sangheili and other former Covenant races, at the outer-most edge of the colonial system known as **_Theta Epsilon_**,the UNSC Boarder Patrol Group-206 picks up a detection signal from one of the Long Range Boarder Protection Satellites. The small fleet moves to a signal intercept position to determine the nature of the unknown contact.

This is the story of what transpired and beyond.

**Chapter 1**

**Hard Contact**

**UNSCS ****_Point of No Return_**, **Halcyon Flight II Cruiser**

**Captain Jacob Stiles Commanding, September 10, 2573, 1342 hours GMT**

Captain Jacob Stiles was getting bored. Which was a common occurrence on these long border patrols. He couldn't wait the two weeks for the end of this deployment. He was thrilled but also saddened because this was the old girl's last sail before heading to the breakers, at which point the crew would be transferring to one of the new _Valley Forge _Class Heavy Cruisers.

He was also thinking about his family and how he was going to see them again after being deployed for eight months when his 2IC Commander Niles McCarren called out.

"Captain, our Long Range Border Protection Sats are detecting a massive energy build up at the edge of the system."

"Someone coming out of Slipspace?" the Captain asked.

"No sir, the rads are all wrong. It's reading more like a wormhole." replied the XO "The signal is gone sir, the detection sats are now showing six contacts. Two cruiser-sized ships with four frigate-sized in escort formation." stated the XO.

"Any known profiles, Niles?" Stiles asked

"No sir, unknown profiles, energy signature appears almost like an older Covenant Gravetic Singularity Drive but with a much lower energy output." replied McCarren.

"I guess we should go check it out then. LT. Thorsen, set coarse for the last position of those unknowns that the sat sent us. Comms, notify our escorts to hold formation with us, and tell them to keep there MACs spun up in case this goes south." stated the Captain.

**_Dul'vann_****, Minbari Shargoti Class War Cruiser**

**Primary Escort to the Shrilan Cruiser ****_Valen'tha _****Home to the Grey Council**

**Ruling Body of the Minbari Federation, 1830 hours MST**

"_Sus'Alyt_, we are detecting what appears to be a primitive sensor net directly in front of us. It just went active." stated _Sha'Alyt_ Nakiera

"

Have they detected us?" asked _Sus'Alyt_ Satili

" Yes sir, we are being actively scanned by no less then three Satellites." replied Nakiera

"Four unknown contacts approaching from further in system, they are actively scanning us. High intensity sweeps, they have us locked in." stated the officer at the sensor console.

"Impossible! Our stealth systems can not be penetrated, and most definitely not by a younger race!" said _Sha'Alyt_ Katari as he turned to look at _Sus'Alyt _Satili to see him with a worried look in his eyes. "Sir?" he asked

"I am not so sure they are a younger race, Katari." replied the _Sus'Alyt._

"What in Valens name would make you say that, sir?" asked Katari in an incredulous voice.

" Look at there formation, Katari, how they are constantly maintaining communication with each other, continuous recycling of there sensor sweeps. They know war but are approaching cautiously. That is wisdom from experience." lectured Satili.

"_Sus'Alyt_, one of the smaller contacts has stopped all communications with the other vessels and is accelerating." stated the sensor officer

" This will not end well." whispered _Sus'Alyt_ Satili. At the same moment the sensor officer yelled "Electro-magnetic discharge from approaching unknown."

But before anyone could respond there world went white.

**UNSCS ****_Point of No Return_**, **Halcyon Flight II Cruiser**

**Captain Jacob Stiles Commanding, 1354 hours GMT**

"Captain, the _PROMETHEUS _has ceased all comms." notified the communications officer.

"Sir, the _PROMETHEUS _is accelerating towards the unknown contacts." reported Commander McCarren

"What the hell are you doing Mathews?" Stiles asked himself. "Comms, hail _PROMETHEUS_ and order her back into formation. If they don't respond order the

SAMUEL T. MERCER

to intercept the _PROMETHEUS _and use her Gravetic Grapplers and tow the _PROME_-" "EM SPIKE, _PROMETHEUS_' HAS FIRED" Yelled McCarran "Impact on UNKNOWN PRIMARY #1, heavy damage, she's listing to port, 24 Archer Missiles inbound to UNKNOWN PRIMARY #1, _PROMETHEUS_ is opening up with her secondary batteries, target tasking is UNKNOWN PRIMARY #2, moderate damage. PRIMARY #1 destroyed, UNKNOWN SECONDARYS #1-4 advancing on _PROMETHEUS_, they're opening fire. Captain the _PROMETHEUS_ is gone." notified Commander McCarren in a sorrowful voice.

"Order everyone back to **_Theta Epsilon _**now max burn, contact the Colonial Authority and the Planetary Governor and tell them to load up every merchant ship and passenger liner they can with as many civies as they can. Order the _MERCER _to escort them to **_Beta Durani_**.Niles, we have to figure out what just happened, go over every sensor reading we and the rest of the patrol group took during that whole thing, I pray to GOD that Mathews saw something we didn't and that those guys were hostile because if not then we are in a world of hurt." Ordered the Captain

Multiple "Yes Sir." could be heard throughout the bridge of the 3,840 ft. long Warship. The captain looked through the forward screen with trepidation, thinking that this was just the beginning of a long and bloody conflict. Little did he know how right he was.

**_Valen'tha _****Minbari Shrilan Class Cruiser. Home to the Grey Council **

**Ruling Body of the Minbari Federation, 1830 hours MST**

Satai Coplann was walking briskly down the passageways of the modified war cruiser answering the summoning trill for all hands to stations. As he enters the command center he sees that the holo field is already active and takes his place in the circle of grey robed figures. He notices that neither Satai Delenn nor Master Dukhat are present yet. As he turns to Satai Morann he asks " Why were we summoned, brother?"

"When we transitioned out of hyperspace, we were immediately scanned by multiple automated satellites, and shortly after, the _Dul'vann _detected these four vessels approaching us at high speed. Since then the vessels have slowed down considerably." replied Morann

Satai Kadronn turned her head towards Coplann and tells him " We do not recognize their designs. We are waiting on Delenn and Master Dukhat to arrive before we decide on how to proceed."

Satai Tolann noticed that one of the smaller vessels rapidly increased its speed and chose to voice it to the council " Look. One of the smaller ships is accelerating."

"What is it doing?" asked Satai Mirak

Before anyone can answer him there is a bright flash of light from the bow of the unknown, then huge plumes of smoke and flashes of light erupt from the sides of the small ship. A deep rumble rolls through the mighty ship as the council stumbles and fall to the deck. Satai Malinn's arm breaks as she lands on the deck, screaming in pain. Smoke and flame fills the cavernous room. Coplann looks back at the holo field in horror when he sees the expanding field of debris and flame that was once the mighty War Cruiser _Dul'vann_. He looks over to the unknown ship and sees that it is in the same situation as the _Dul'vann,_ thanks to the actions of the escorting Tinashi War Frigates.

Morann crawls over to Satai Malinn and helps her to stand as he looks to his left and says "Coplann, go find Delenn and Master Duhkat. We must decide weather to wait and find out what happened or to follow them to their base and enact revenge for this attack. Satai Dakirann, contact the bridge and have them send out a distress call and contact our escorts still in hyperspace and have them transition to normal space. We may need their help."

"At once Morann." replied Coplann

"Internal communications are down, Satai Morann, I'll head to the bridge and relay your orders in person." stated Satai Dakirann.

**_Valen'tha _****Minbari Shrilan Class Cruiser Home to the Grey Council **

**Ruling Body of the Minbari Federation, 1842 hours MST Port side main transit way**

As Coplann walked through the shattered corridors of the Valen'tha and saw all the damage and the wounded crew being looked over by the religious cast healers, he couldn't help but wonder how an inferior race could in a matter of seconds destroy a top- of-the-line _Shargoti_ war cruiser and cripple a _Shrilan_ war cruiser. It should be impossible, their stealth systems alone should have hidden them from view. And the war cruiser's armor should have withstood their fire, but no, their sensors were strong enough to detect them and their weapons were powerful enough to shred the armor belts on both ships.

He would never admit it to the other Satai's, but he was scared. He wasn't sure if the other Satai's were paying attention to the holo display or not, but it was only the one alien ship that attacked. He saw the other ships stand fast, then turn and head further in- system at high speed. One ship the size of a war frigate destroying and heavily damaging a pair of Minbari War Cruisers in under a minute, it frightens him.

As he rounds the corner, he sees Delenn kneeling on the deck with her back to him, cradling someone's head in her lap. As he drew closer he saw who it was in Delenn's lap, and it filled him with dread. When he sees the blood and the still chest of there leader Duhkat, he nearly breaks down in grief and rage. How can they take such a great man before his time? He looks over at the weeping form of Delenn, and with sorrow in his voice asks "Delenn, we need you, we must decide whether to wait and find out what happened or do we follow them back to their base and exacted revenge for the lives lost today?"

When she looks up into his eyes, he again feels fear for the second time this day, but not fear for himself or his people, but for these aliens. For in the eyes of Delenn he sees a flaming storm of anger and violence worthy of any member of the warrior cast, then she replies to his question "He was the best of us Coplann, and they took him from us. What right do they have to fire on us, their betters? Follow them, and burn them from the skies. No mercy Coplann, no mercy!" she finishes yelling.

He stands up, turns and walks back the way he came to deliver both the news of Duhkat's death and Delenn's decision. He had a very bad feeling that by the end of his report, the Minbari Federation would be at war. He is afraid that when this conflict ends, his people will not have finished it unharmed.

**Vorlon Homeworld, Vorlon Imperial Palace**

Kosh Naranek, the lead advisor to the Emperor in this cycle, felt a great pain in the fabric of life. A pain this great he has not felt since the start of the Human-Covenant war nearly 40 years earlier. This time though he felt human pain and minbari pain. This, he thought to himself, is the prelude to the next shadow war. He must travel to Minbari space and stop this war between the humans and minbari, they must work together to survive the coming storm. But little did he know that it was not the humans and minbari that would have to fight to survive the coming storm.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ranging Shots

**UNSCS ****_Point of No Return_**

** Halcyon Flight II Cruiser**

**Captain Jacob Stiles Commanding, September 10, 2563, 1430 hours GMT**

Captain Stiles stood at the end of the tactical holo table in the Combat Information Center in the Heart of the **_Point of No Return_**_. _The rest of the senior officers stood around the sides of the table, all of them staring at the holo projection displaying the encounter with the unknown ships. The captain turns to the corner of the holo table and asks the resident A.I. "Tiberius, what did you find in that data burst from the **_Prometheus_** before she was destroyed?"

"Sir, I just finished cataloging everything in the data burst. It was sent buy the ships A.I., it was all of the ships logs and security cam footage." stated the A.I.

The captain narrowed his eyes at the Hologram and said "Show me the bridge feed starting from when we entered visual sensor range."

The A.I. flickered for a moment as he processed the data and prepared to play the vid file. " Aye sir loading now." with a flash of light from the Holo table the bridge footage from the Prometheus started to play. It showed the high angle of the security cam in the overhead at the back of the bridge.

They see the young ensign at the sensor consol turn to Commander David Mathews and say "Commander, the unknowns are now in visual range."

The Commander looks to the young woman and with authority in his voice said "bring it up on the main display screen." in seconds the image of the unknown fleet appears on the bridges main screen. The Commander was visibly shaking in his command chair, he starts mumbling to him self then turns to the tactical station and says to the Lt. manning it "What are you waiting for Price, open fire. Destroy those Covi bastards!"

"Excuse me sir, but those are not covenant ships." replied the Lt.

"Are you blind? I said fire!" yelled the Commander.

The Lt. looked over to the Comms. Station and said "Kate, tell security to get up here now." Before the ensign could respond there was a loud bang of a M-6C firing and the top half of the girls head spays all over the bulkhead behind her station. Lt. Price reaches for his side arm, but he is not fast enough as the C.O. puts two rounds into his chest. The rest of the bridge crew start to scramble for what cover they can find, but it does no good as the senior staff of the _Point of No Return _watch as Commander Mathews methodically murders his entire bridge crew.

After the deed is done, the commander walks over to the Comms. Station and deactivates the Communications Array. He then walks over to Nav. Control and sets coarse for the unknowns at full speed. As he walks to the Weps. Station he says to himself "No, I wont let the Covenant kill them, never. I wont let them!" he starts to manipulate the controls. The ship starts to rumble as she fires all of her weapons. In a few moments there is a bright greenish yellow flashes outside the bridge, then the holo goes to static.

"Well, Commander Mathews sure screwed the pooch on this one." said Lt. Taylor, the ships weapons officer.

"This is not the time for jokes Taylor! What do we do Captain?" asked Commander McCarren

The Captain looks at the holo, then looks to the overhead in thought. "Tiberius, what's the status of the **_Mercer_** and the civilian ships?" he asks the ships 2nd Gen Smart A.I.

"Sir, the last civilian transport just entered into formation with the rest of the

evacuation fleet. Commander Renolds just reported that they will move to the slipspace jump point in five minutes." the A.I. replied.

"Good, that's Good." the Captain said. " Ok people, this is what were doing." as he started typing on the control pad he looked up at the projection of Tiberius at the corner of the holo table. "Tiberius, bring up the planetary system on the holo table please."

"Aye, aye captain. Would you like me too display the current position of the unknown fleet as well?" asked the A.I.

"Please do Tiberius." said the Captain, "I've ordered the orbital defense grid to be activated, all non-essential personnel are being evacuated from the orbital tethers to the bunkers on the surface. The colonies Marine Detachment has transferred four squads of troopers to each of the three tether stations, the rest will be holding the star-ports and key locations on the surface. The planetary militia has been ordered to defend the evac bunkers at all coast.

I've ordered our Marine Detachment and all their support equipment to the surface. They will be posting in the Highland Forests to the north of the colonial capital of New Tripoli. They will act as the Quick Reaction Force for the surface defense."

"Captain we have a problem. I linked my systems to the L.R.B.P. Satellites for confirmation of the current positions of the unknowns, and I detected this." notified Tiberius as he activated the holo display to show that the unknown vessels numbers had increased. Now moving in-system was 6 cruiser analogs with 12 destroyer analogs in escort formation.

"How in the hell did they get reinforcements that quick?" exclaimed the X.O.

The Captain turned to his X.O. and said "Doesn't matter, this just means we have to fight harder, we can't let them make orbit. I don't want another Harvest on our hands people. Tiberius show me the unknowns predicted flight path."

"Aye sir." replied the A.I. as he projected the predicted course the unknowns will take through the system to the colony.

Lt. Taylor look at the display, then to the Captain "Sir, they will be traveling real close to Dorell's Moon. We can have our Longsword's drop a couple of Havoc nukes just out side of the moons gravity field, maybe even a small Hornet mine field to sow more chaos in their ranks before they reach **_Theta Epsilon_**'s orbit."

"Hmm. Good call there Taylor." said the captain, "Do it, Niles get on the horn and tell the **_Night Watcher _**to take position behind the moon Torus and jam their comms the second they trip the mine field. Tiberius, put me on the 1M.C. please."

"You are on Sir." replied the A.I.

"Thank you Tiberius. My brave crew, it has only been 10 years since the end of the Great War, and it looks like we are at war again. I don't know if we will survive this battle or not. There are 25,000 civilians still on the surface and we will do our best to make sure that they stay safe. No matter what happens, know this I am proud and honored to serve with each and every one of you. We have three hours until the enemy arrives, make the best of it. Carry on." the captain breathed out slowly " Ok, you all heard me. Get some rest I need you all sharp when this starts."

Aye, aye's were heard from all around the table as they all headed to their respected quarters.

The Captain looked at the holo display and thought to himself "How the hell am I going to hold off six cruisers and twelve destroyers with an aging cruiser and a scout frigate?"

**Minbari Shargoti War-Cruiser ****_Ingata, _****Flagship of ****_Valen'tha's_**** escort fleet**

**Sus'Alyt Branmer**

**Commanding 0215 hours MST**

The _Ingata_ and her five sisters sailed silently through the void of space with their twelve Tanashi war-frigates arrayed in front of them like a school of shirak knife fish in front of a pack of krika sharks, hunting for pray.

It has been nearly three and a half hours since the unknown aliens attacked and destroyed the **_Dul'vann_**, and crippled the **_Valen'tha_**. Three and a half hours since they took Duhkat from the minbari people. _Sus'Alyt _Branmer's blood boiled with the rage he felt towards this inferior race of barbarians. He promised to himself on his sons life that he would make this race feel his pain to the last one.

_Satai_ Coplann contacted him after he received his orders from _satai_ Dakirann, this caught the _Sas'Alyt_ of balance, especially so once Coplann told him to tread carefully. When he asked why, Coplann's next statement startled him " Only the one escort fired on us, the others turned and fled further in-system at speeds one wouldn't expect from ships that size."

This unsettled him, but he felt confident that his fleet could handle a single cruiser, war-frigate and a gunship. After all they were the Minbari, the chosen of the Vorlons. They were approaching the largest moon for this colony, he looked at the holo field and saw several dozen small specks of grey sitting in a high orbit of the colony. He also saw three rather large objects and one half the size of the larger objects.

He looked to his aid and said "Magnify on those objects, I want to see what they are."

Within moments the holo field magnified the view bringing into focus two dozen satellites covered in weapons, defense satellites obviously. He then saw the enemy cruiser maneuvering into an intercept position. But how he asked himself.

He turns to his aid again and asks "Is the fleets stealth systems at maximum setting?"

"Yes _Sas'Alyt_, all ships report that their stealth systems are at full strength. The enemy should not be able to detect us." replied the aid.

" Yet it appears that they have detected us, hum. Where are the other two vessels? Tarik, do a high intensity scan of the system. I want to know were those other two ships went."

" Right away, sir." replied Tarik.

Branmer looked at the enemy cruiser and started to study its layout and external features in order to try and have a better understanding of his enemy. He felt that this was a wise precaution as the Warrior Cast had no intelligence on these barbarians. As he looked on the enemy cruiser he had conflicting opinions on it. In one way he thought that it is the most ugly ship he has ever seen, but on the other, he is stunned by the simplicity of the design.

There appears to be no discernable point of attack that the ship could not bring at least half its weapons to bear. It brought into focus his own ships weakness to broadside attacks. As he continues to study the alien vessel, there is a sudden bright flash of light forcing the _Sas'Alyt_ to look down and cover his eyes. He looks back up after the light dissipates to see three war-frigates nothing more then burning husks and an additional four drifting out of formation leaking vital oxygen into the void of space.

He turns to his aid and asks " Tarik, was that the missing ships?"

" No master." he replies. "We can not detect the two escort ships. That was some form of multiple fusion detonations."

"Mines?" Branmer asks himself. He turns to his aid "Order all ships to stop and launch flyers to scout for more mines."

"I can not sir. All communications channels are being jammed." said Tarik with worry in his voice.

"What?" Branmer ask incredulously "How, How can they be jamming our signals?" another bright flash fills the holo display signaling the lose of another pair of war-frigates. The other ships in the fleet go to full stop as Branmer turns to his aid "Switch our communications over to the back-up frequencies. Hopefully the other _Sha'Alyt's_ will figure out to do the same. And Tarik, have the hanger deck launch a pair of flyers to scout out this mine field, once they have the field identified we will use our interceptor grid to destroy them."

"Aye, _Sas'Alyt_, I will do so immediately." Tarik said as he turned to head to the command deck to relay the _Sas'Alyt's_ orders.

Branmer looked into the distance and sees the enemy cruiser sitting there taunting him. He has not even met the barbarians in combat yet and already he is down nine ships, five war-frigates destroyed and four more crippled. He see's two small blue shimmers heading towards the front of the fleet, soon he thought to him self. Soon the heathens would pay in blood.

Branmer heard the clicking of boots on metal as Tarik approached from behind. He turned to his aid just as Tarik said in a worried voice "Sir, we have regained communications with the rest of the fleet, they are erratic but mostly stable. _Sha'Alyt_ Tolann asked that I notify you that our computer network has been infiltrated by the enemy. They were able to download our entire database."

"The entire database? How, no one has ever breached our firewalls. Not in a thousand years has our network been infiltrated. Who are these people?" Branmer asked his aid.

Before Tarik could respond his ear bud chirped telling him he had a comm from the bridge. He pressed the activator and listened. He nodded as he closed the channel and face the _Sas'Alyt_ and said "Sir, the flyers have returned, they have tagged the entire mine field and the war-frigates have begun to target the mines. They await the order to destroy the field."

Branmer looked to his faithful aid and said "The order is given. Once we are clear of the mind field move the fleet into fusion missile range. I want to light up that colonies ski with cleansing fire."

The _Sas'Alyt _watched as the small explosions signal the death of another one of those infernal mines. After almost ten minutes they receive word from the lead elements of the fleet stating that the minefield has been cleared. _Sas'Alyt_ Branmer turns to his aid and says " Advance and fire once we are in range."

"Aye sir." replied his aid with a hint of glee in his voice.

A few moments later there was a slight vibration running through the great ship, as it and the righteous fleet launched their long range fusion missiles at the colony and it's lone defender.


	4. Chapter 3

**Sorry everyone for the delay, life, work, and my own lazyness got in the way. heres chapter three i know its short but i wanted to get it out to you.**

**Chapter 3**

**Burning Skies**

**UNSCS ****_Point of No Return_**

**Halcyon Flight II Cruiser**

**Captain Jacob Stiles Commanding, September 10, 2563, 1725 hours GMT**

Like most captain's of the older ships in the fleet, Captain Stiles evacuated the Navigation Bridge half a hour before expected contact with the enemy. He moved all operations to the CIC to prevent a lucky hit on the nav. bridge and mission killing his ship. He also ordered Commander Clark of the _Night Watcher _to stay put in that crater during the coming battle, and to launch a complement of Clarion spy drones to watch the battle and report the results back to FleetCom.

He was positive that the aliens would gain orbital supremacy, he wasn't being defeatist it was simple numbers, they had more. He will make them pay for every inch of space, and show them why you don't FUCK with Humanity. Hopefully his ship will cause enough damage to the enemy fleet to make any ground operations they had planed ineffective.

As he sits at the command consol, looking over the various ship's status screens his X.O., Commander McCarren turns to the Captain and says "Sir, the hostiles are approaching the mine field."

The captain looks over to McCarren and tells him "Transfer the image to my consol Niles."

Niles replied with "Aye sir." as he turned back to his station typing on the holographic keyboard.

Stiles looked at his display showing the eighteen warships approaching the Lagrange point were the impromptu minefield was located. As he watched the ships approached the mine field oblivious to the coming storm of nuclear annihilation they were sailing right into. Then it happens, a bright flash of light and three enemy destroyers were destroyed and four more drifting out of formation. A moment later another flash and two additional destroyers are gone from the scope.

The A.I. pedestal to the right of the Captain lights up and the image of Tiberius appeared as he told the Captain "Sir, Commander Clark wishes to inform you that he has jammed the enemies comm suits, and his cyber-warfare A.I. has hacked into there network and is at this moment downloading their entire database."

"Good, Have Commander Clark transmit a copy of everything they have from the database on these ships and there language. I want you to try to make a translation software so we can try to talk to these people, and if that doesn't work then hopefully we can define a weakness in their ship designs." replied the Captain

"Very well sir." replied the A.I.

For ten minutes the Captain and crew of the _Point of No Return _watched as the enemies Destroyers take out the minefield. Once the enemy started to maneuver Captain Stiles leaned forward and said "Alright boys and girls, time to put forward your best. Prep all weapon systems, bring point defense and CWIS mounts online."

Lt. Taylor nodded at his C.O. and said "Aye, aye sir. P.D.'s and CWIS are online, all archer pods are hot and ready the MAC is at sixty percent charge and rising, the field recyclers for the MAC are at full capacity. Weps is ready sir."

"VAMPIRE,VAMPIRE,VAMPIRE! 285 high speed fusion missiles inbound. Captain they are breaking into four groups. Course heading indicates that they are targeted to us and the three tethers." proclaimed Commander McCarren.

"Helm, turn us broadside to those missiles. Taylor, as soon as there in range have the P.D.s light them up. Keep the CIWS spooled up in case they get through our Point Defense screen." said the captain as he looked at the holo projection of the missile tracks. He hopes that the tethers missile interceptors would down the missiles targeting them because if just one hits it would be over for hundreds of lives on the tether and the ground under it.

Lt. Taylor looks up from his station and says "Captain our point defenses have engaged the enemy missiles. Ten VAMP's have punched through the P.D. screen, CIWS mounts engaging splash nine bogies. One active and locked in, BRACE for contact."

As everyone in the CIC braced the enemy missile struck amidships on the armor belt just twenty meters forward of portside main gun batteries, violently shaking the entire ship. Small sparks rained down from the overhead from the E.M.P. bleed through from the enemy missile.

As Captain stiles sits back up in his chair he looks to Cmdr. McCarren and asks "Damage report Niles?"

"Minimal damage to ships systems, the armor belt kept out most of the hard stuff. In fact there is very minimal armor penetration." replied the X.O. with confusion in his voice.

From his station at tactical Lt. Taylor catches the attention of his C.O. "Sir, the enemy missile had an Omni-directional warhead. Most of the force from the detonation was expelled out into space. Also the tethers were able to splash all missiles targeting them."

"Good." replied the Captain "Helm, re-align our bow with the enemy. Taylor, I want you and Tiberius to plot MAC shots for destroyer Delta 3 and these two cruisers, Charley 4 and 5."

The holo pedestal lighted up showing Tiberius looking at the Captain. " Sir, I already have the target plots done. Lt. Taylor can fire at your discretion."

"You heard him Lieutenant, give them our response." the Captain stated with a feral grin on his face.

As Lt. Taylor hit the fire command on his consul the ship shuddered and shifted three times in rapid succession and three blindingly bright streaks shot forth from the bow of the ageing warhorse flying rapidly towards the oncoming fleet. The first round struck the Destroyer analogue directly on the bow, and the ship immediately shattered into a million pieces.

The round kept moving, barely hindered by the first impact as it slammed into the lower portside drive fin on the cruiser behind the intended target, shearing the fin off causing the ship to veer into an uncontrolled lateral spin. The second round hit the hanger doors in the ship designated C-4, destroying violently the forward third of the ship. The third round struck its target right at the juncture between the main hull and the upper drive fin. The kinetic force of the impact shearing off the fin and slamming it into the upper half of the main propulsion fin, effectively mission killing the cruiser.

The Captain looks the Lt. Taylor and says "WEP's, target them with the archer pods, A-1 through E-2 please."

"Aye sir, pods A-1 through E-2 are armed and ready." the Lt. replied

The captain looked at him with steel in his eyes " then lets show these people how to make a real fusion missile. Taylor you may fire."

"Aye, Aye. Missile pods Alpha -1 through Echo-2 away, one minute twenty seconds to impact." stated the weapons officer as 250 missiles with a fission shaped charge warhead apiece racing out of there silos at ten kilometers a second actively seeking out there pray.

**Minbari Shargoti War-Cruiser ****_Ingata_**

**0230 Hours MST**

Branmer watched in disbelief as only one of the hundreds of missiles his fleet fired hit the side of the enemy cruiser, and non that targeted the orbital stations make it through there ridiculously powerful and efficient interceptor grids. And the one that did impact the enemy ship appeared to only have burned the outer hull of the thrice damned ship. He started to turn towards Tarik when he noticed that the enemy ship was maneuvering again.

"Tarik, order all ships to flank speed. I want to be in optimal firing range immediately." ordered the _Sas'Alyt. _But before his aid could respond they saw static discharges forming on the bow of the enemy ship.

Tarik turns to Branmer with his hand on his ear bud and says " Sir the bridge is reporting that there is an electro-magnetic field forming at the bow of the enemy cruiser."

Branmer turns to his aid and yells " Order all ships to go evasive now!" but it is too late as they watch three bright flashes of light leave the enemy cruiser and witness the power of the enemy's "primitive" kinetic weapons annihilate a war frigate, destroy a cruiser and cripple two more cruisers in a single volley. Without looking to Tarik he orders "Have the surviving ships target that ship and fire. I want it gone from my sight."

Without responding Tarik starts to whisper into his comm unit relaying his masters orders. Branmer watches the magnified image of the enemy cruiser thinking that this new enemy definitely knew how to build ships to survive combat. As he continues to watch the ship maneuver he notices small hatches along the starboard flank of the warship flipping open, causing him to wonder what new trick his enemy was now using. He sees small puffs of smoke and a twinkling of debris come out of each hatch, then massive clouds of smoke originating from the debris and even before he can confirm his suspicions Tarik yells out "Sir two hundred and fifty fission missiles are inbound, sensors report that they are targeting all our ships even the crippled ones."

Branmer turns to him and says "Have all ships switch weapons to interceptor mode, and have our fighter screen intercept those missiles. We can not afford to lose any more ships." Branmer and Tarik both turned to the holo field to watch the coming fire. They saw the brave pilots of the fleet's fighter wing trying to intercept the incoming missiles, some even ramming them with their fighters. They watched as the vivid emerald lances of the fleet's fusion beam weapons try to intercept the missiles, working alongside their over taxed interceptor grid. And in horror they watch as the damaged cruiser _Sangati _took three fission missiles to the forward sections. When the missiles detonated, they punched right through the armor belt. The outer bulkheads glowed at the seams for a fraction of a second trying to contain the hundreds of megatons of energy that was released with the missiles impact before the main reactor detonated incinerating the entire ship.

Branmer looks at Tarik and says "Tell the damaged ships crews to evacuate. They need to get to the life pods." As Tarik relays the _Sas Alyt's_ orders, they watch as the two remaining undamaged war frigates, with their interceptor grids over taxed and shutting down, take multiple missile strikes, causing them to expand into iridescent clouds of gas. As the last missile was shot down _Sas' Alyt _Branmer looked out upon the irradiated cloud that was the majority of his once great fleet. How could one ship destroy fifteen of his warships.

Tarik looks at the the _Sas'Alyt _and says "Sir, we are in rang of our fusion beam weapons. The remaining _Sha'Alyt's_ are requesting permission to open fire on the barbarian's ship."

Branmer turned to his aid and with steel in his eyes said one simple word "Fire." He turned back to watch the enemy ship as his remaining ships fired their primary and secondary batteries at the barbarian cruiser. To there shock their secondary batteries were barley marring the hull plating, but the primaries were a different story. The primary fusion beams were tearing great rends in the enemies hull.

Suddenly there was a great explosion coming from the side of the enemy cruiser. Tarik looked to the _Sas'Alyt_ with his hand to his ear and says "Master, the bridge reports that the enemy ship is having massive power fluctuations and is venting atmosphere from all decks. They are launching escape pods." before Branmer could respond he sees Tariks face go ashen. Branmer asks "what is it Tarik? What is wrong?"

"Sir, we must move away from that ship, its reactors are overloading and we are in the projected blast range." Tarik all but screams. Branmer asks his aid "Are our surviving ships jump engines online and at full charge?" "Yes master, they are." Tarik replies earnestly. Branmer turns back to the holo desplay and delivers his last order for this battle "Order all ships that are still able to activate their jump drives and head to the edge of the system. There we will wait for reinforcments." Tarik responds in a grave voice "As you order master."

As the surviving Minbari ships turned into their jump points, and accelerated into the void of hyperspace a lone stealth probe attached itself to the aft drive fin of the damaged War Frigate _Wind_ _Sword's Light _and began recording everything it sees for the next 72 hours before activating its slipspace transmitter and reporting everything in its memory banks.

**Escape Pod Alpha Two Niner, planetary reentry**

**September 10, 2563, 1752 hours GMT**

Captain Stiles looked out the aft hatch window at his ship as she tore herself apart with decompressions. He sees the enemy ships behind his beloved ship start to turn away as a blue event horizon appeared behind each surviving ship. 'Good' Jacob thought to himself. 'They are retreating. Hopefully our reinforcements will arrive before they return'

As the pod vibrated and bounced from planetary reentry the thought that was foremost on the captains mind was not what they were going to do after they landed but that he hoped and prayed that he would see his family again.


End file.
